High school student's Brandeis documentary earns national recognition

A Utah high school student has earned national recognition for his documentary about Justice Louis Brandeis and has connected with many Brandeis experts along the way.

Jacob Simmons, who was a high school freshman during the 2016-17 academic year, participated in National History Day. A national competition with more than 600,000 participants in 18 categories, National History Day encourages students to create projects based on a theme. This year, the theme was "Taking a Stand in History."

Simmons created a 10-minute video about Brandeis that won first place in Utah, qualifying it for the national competition, where it placed in the top 50 percent.

The video features interviews with Brandeis Law Professor Laura Rothstein and authors Philippa Strum, Melvin Urofsky and Jeffrey Rosen, all of whom have written major works about Brandeis. Simmons also interviewed the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, great-grandson of Brandeis.